OCT 2021
AUTUMN
S P E C I A L F E AT U R E Learning from business mistakes
In Conversation with Sharon Keegan
Coming to terms with being involuntarily childless
Helping children to unlock their full potential
Meet the contributors SALIHAH AGBAJE Founder And Creative Director At Spoken World Productions Salihah is the founder and creative director at Spoken World Productions, a theatre in education organisation for children that specialises in providing physical and virtual Drama, movement and mindfulness workshops to enhance confidence, creativity and much, much more. www.spokenworldproductions.com
SHONA CHAMBERS Marketing Consultant Shona Chambers is a Marketing Consultant and owner of Shona Chambers Marketing, a Marketing Agency based in Nunhead near Peckham. Specialising in helping Small Business Owners and Freelancers with their marketing. *Photo credit Portrayed Photography www.shonachambersmarketing.co.uk
LOUISE ARNOLD 923 Jobs Louise Arnold spent five years at City law firms before moving to an in-house legal role at London’s Borough Market. She loves her role as part of the 9-2-3 team and really feels inspired by the changes that are unfolding before her eyes in the world of work. www.923jobs.com
KAREN GIBB Founder Of Mind Marvels Karen Gibb is a former teacher, now educating young people on their emotional wellbeing with a range of calming strategies and practical tools to support. www.mindmarvels.co.uk
Do you like what we do? Why not become a guest contributor. Let’s collaborate contact bridget@parentsinbiz.co.uk Magazine designed by B81 Designs www.b81designs.com
BERENICE SMITH Freelance Designer and Founder of Hello Lovely Berenice Smith, MA, runs Hello Lovely. She works with business owners, publishing houses and authors to bring ideas to life through creative, bespoke user-friendly design. Hello Lovely is an ethical business advising on planet-friendly solutions and donating to charities. www.hellolovely.design
SOPHIE THWAITES Helping Children Get Back Into Their Body And Ready To Learn Sophie has helped children all over the world with varying learning differences. She has developed a broad understanding of how best to work with children and help them establish greater connections with their surrounding environment; ultimately allowing them to unlock their potential, enjoy learning, and grow in confidence. www.sophiethwaites.co.uk
YUKI SOLLE Healthy Eating Adviser, Eco-Living And Money Savvy Blogger. Greenie. Yuki is the founder of Cultivate Life Lifestyle blog that focuses on healthy eating, Eco-living & Money Saving topics. Being a passionate foodie, Yuki shares tips and hacks on how to eat well without costing the earth (or our pockets!) www.cultivatethelife.com
CATHERINE ERDLY SMALL BUSINESS RETAIL EXPERT Catherine is a small business retail expert, a Forbes.com contributor on the subject of starting and scaling a product business, a judge of the Good Retail Awards on the Editorial Board of Modern Retail www.resilientretail.com
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Sharon Keegan,
IN CONVERSATION
Founder of Peachylean Peachylean is an award-winning fitness wear brand for women. That sells supportive garments in sizes 6 -26, supporting the everyday everybody to live life in full colour. Sharon has appeared on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den and secured £100,000 for her ever growing business. Three Dragons, Touker Suleyman, Sarah Davies and Tej Lalvani, offered her money. She decided to bring all three backers on board in return for a 30 per cent stake in Peachylean. *Photo credits Peter Love, Mill Studios
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Helping children unlock their full potential by building a stronger foundation The first few years of a child’s life (starting from conception) play a vital role in creating and establishing a solid foundation for further development.
Sophie Thwaites, Helping children get back into their body and ready to learn Essential brain pathways are created during these first few years, but if not correctly formed at the right time or in the right order, they can significantly impact a child’s development. This can lead to later challenges around how they learn, how they co-ordinate their body, how they interact with their environment and how shy, anxious or confident they are. If, for any reason, these brain and body connections are not made during this period, we can actually create them later in life through specific movement programmes, ensuring that the child develops these strong foundations - crucial for all areas of life. Before I briefly cover the theory behind this, let me first start with my story. When I was 16, I was diagnosed with Dyspraxia and Dyslexia and was offered additional support at school. I received help with my essay writing, was taught tools to help me understand and retain information, and was provided with colour overlays to ease reading. But I didn’t feel like these were helping and instead felt like the gap between my peers and me was widening.
Fortunately, a staff member at the school had recently completed some training, which focused on movement-based exercises to help children overcome a range of challenges, including writing, co-ordination and concentration – my key difficulties. She assessed my suitability, and I was soon set up on a 12-month programme. I was required to do a specific set of exercises, which mirrored early movements carried out as a baby, for 5-10 minutes every day, which changed every few weeks. The changes I experienced over the course of the year were gradual, but after my family and I compared who I was before the 12 months to after, we realised the changes were astonishing. My grades had improved, my handwriting was a lot neater, my ability to concentrate and retain information was better, my general co-ordination and balance had improved, and I was no longer a shy, introverted girl, but someone who was more confident and grounded in all areas of my life.
The programme that was so instrumental in shaping me into the person I am today is the same one that I now use to help children overcome their challenges and reach their true potential. I have witnessed some incredible transformations in children over the years; and have seen huge improvements in areas such as writing, reading and maths, all without picking up a single pencil or book during the exercises. The theory behind these transformational exercises lies with primitive reflexes. Primitive reflexes are a group of motor reflexes found in newborn babies. These develop within the womb and are essential in the birthing process, as they help the newborn take its first breath and support its early survival. They instinctively enable us to perform certain tasks such as feeding, grasping, responding to danger, lifting our head, rolling, crawling, standing and eventually walking. All being well, the primitive reflexes should be fully integrated and suppressed within the body by the age of 1. If these reflexes are not suppressed in the first year, they can interfere with subsequent motor development, visual functioning (needed for reading), hand-eye co-ordination (needed for writing), and perceptual skills. While there can be many social and educational factors for specific learning difficulties, physical abilities underpin every learning and social interaction aspect. When these challenges are corrected, children can start to not only achieve but thrive. Over the years, I have witnessed incredible transformations and long-lasting changes in every child I have worked with, including confidence growth, improved writing, easier reading, and better coordination. The programme is simple yet amazingly powerful. It works from the source of the challenges, creating a more solid foundation from which everything else falls into place. If you are curious to learn more about the bespoke programmes I run and how they could help your child, please feel free to contact me to arrange a FREE assessment and consultation.
www.sophiethwaites.co.uk
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Coming to Terms with Being Involuntarily Childless I’m Berenice, a freelance designer, and founder of Hello Lovely, a design business in Cambridge creating print material including books for all age groups, including primary, branding, and websites. I guess I’m also a rebel in writing here as I’m not a mother to a living child. I’m one of the seventy-two percent for whom IVF fails and makeup one of forty-eight million women who are involuntarily childless. Creating allies is an area I’m keen to explore with you
Berenice Smith, Freelance Designer, and Founder of Hello Lovely It’s been eleven years since my last IVF cycle resulted in a miscarriage - almost to the day of writing. Since then, I fell apart with PTSD, adopted a rescue dog, walked to the edge of an actual cliff, went through redundancy, graduated with a Masters Degree in graphic design and typography, have won or shortlisted for awards including the Cambridgeshire Digital Awards and The IPSE Freelancer of the Year. I have spoken at Fertility Fest in London twice. I am an Ambassador for World Childless Week. I’m an unreformed goth, nerdy about fonts and passionate about equality and the art of listening. In learning to live with my grief, by understanding it’s a bag I’ll always carry, but I can share the load, I’ve cycled through the stages of grief and back again. In times of bitterness, I’ve walked away from parents for fear of judgment, pity, being asked if I’d tried hard enough or considered adoption. I understand why one may want to offer a solution; it’s in our nature to help. Much misunderstanding about what it is to be involuntarily childless perhaps comes from not knowing what to say or do? Every media story that reveals a happy ending to a journey of infertility shuts down another, which ended with loss or never began due to circumstance. It’s telling that the statistics on men are unrecorded. Dr Robin Hadley, a researcher on male infertility, says, “Research on men who are
involuntarily childless is important not only because of actual and projected demographic change but also because the evidence based on the effects of male involuntary childlessness on men as they age is virtually nonexistent. However, in many countries, there are more childless men than equivalent women.” As I’ve come to terms with my losses, I set up a podcast, The Full Stop, with Michael Hughes and Sarah Lawrence. Between us, we’ve broadcast thirty-two episodes on subjects around childlessness to encourage conversation in our community and to educate and inform family, friends, and relatives of those who are. One in 6 women are childless; it’s very likely you know someone.
What do I mean about creating allies? Well, it’s sharing experiences and boundaries to set an expectation of how childless, not by choice, people deserve to be treated. And that’s not an easy task, not least because of centuries of misrepresentation. Cruella de Ville, witch-hunts, and numerous evil stepmothers comes to mind. Even in The Game of Thrones, fathers are portrayed as sexual and brave warriors. Childless men are inferior, unwanted or sickly. These narratives invoke shame, one that
subconsciously feeds into society’s perception and creates a climate of pronatalism. Overcoming these narratives requires a considerable act of self-forgiveness, the fragility of which is easily upended by external criticism or narcissism. It’s building bridges, so the next generation - your children and grandchildren - experience better mental health and are accepted into society. If you find yourself wondering if that’s real, the Full Stop has broadcast episodes on social divides. Yvonne John, the author of Dreaming of a Life Unlived, discussed fertile and racial stereotypes; in Loneliness In A Pandemic guest, Julia shared the intense isolation of living in Spain during lockdown as a lone single person surrounded by families. In Men Matter Too, guests talk about being eyed with suspicion as childless men as if they were criminals. Our mental health episode with Meriel Whale remains one of our most popular downloads.
In learning to live with my grief, by understanding it’s a bag I’ll always carry, but I can share the load, I’ve cycled through the stages of grief and back again. The noun ally is defined as ‘being a person who associates or cooperates with another’. As a verb, it’s ‘to enter into an alliance’. In practice, how might that work? •
We may struggle to communicate because we’re all uncomfortable. Not much about infertility is sexy, and to say one can’t have children conjures up all sorts of scenarios. Reading up about the reasons is beneficial. Jody Day, founder of Gateway Women, author, psychotherapist, and TEDx speaker, wrote ‘50 ways not be a mother (with apologies to Paul Simon).
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Is there another introduction that can bring people together at your event or group or in your bio? What about the location, coffee, biscuits, Great British BakeOff or shoes - we all love shoes, don’t we?
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Baby showers can be upsetting, as can collections and scan photos. They are reminders of loss as well as celebration. Giving space and choice is recognising grief.
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Appreciate that ‘as a parent’ isn’t inclusive language. Some experiences are specific to parenthood, but many more are universal. Try different scenarios or ‘the children in your life’ to welcome a wider audience, including childless and childfree.
• Enough of the stereotypes. Family is a broad term, and we’re all humans with diverse needs and commitments. •
If someone tells you that they can’t be a parent, it is a honour and an act of trust. Compassionate responses are ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘do you want to talk’ and not forgetting.
During the last eighteen months, I’ve seen friends from all sides, parents or childless (not by choice) and childfree (by choice) weather a front like no other. I have enormous respect for everyone. It’s the same storm, different boats.
Resources https://gateway-women.com/50-ways-not-to-be-amother-with-apologies-to-paul-simon/ www.thefullstoppod.com https://www.robinhadley.co.uk https://findingmyplanb.wordpress.com https://www.merielwhalecounselling.co.uk
www.hellolovely.design
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Small Business Spotlight Pop My Way Sashe Christopher Briefly tell us about you? Hi there, I’m Sashe, the owner and founder of Pop My Way. I’m married to an incredible guy and am the proudest mama to an amazing 6-year-old girl. Before Pop My Way popped, I spent 6 years in a senior position within ‘Buying and Merchandising’ at Burberry. Before that, I spent 15 years in the fashion industry for some iconic brands and also worked with numerous designer children’s brands in the UK, including Prada, Baby Dior and Roberto Cavalli.
What inspired you to start your business? A tricky pregnancy and birth of my daughter prompted me to start thinking about ways to make the early days with new babies easier. Frustrated by nappy changes and feeds complicated by inflexible and impractical clothing, the idea of a simpler way was born. Curious about where and how my daughter’s clothes were produced, I began to weave my other passion, sustainability, into the concept. I was born in Durban, South Africa, at the time the country was segregated under apartheid. As a child of colour, I heard all the stories about what my parents, grandparents and others had to endure. I noticed the injustices and the massive divide between those who were privileged and those who had nothing. Importantly, I noticed what everyday people did with the little that they had. I saw the informal housing settlements that people built by themselves from scraps of metal, plastic bags or other throwaway items that they found. Sustainability is a way of life in South Africa because people are forced to reuse and recycle as much as possible. Old clothes and leftover food are always welcomed by someone, and one man’s scrap is another man’s treasure. Bottles and cans are collected to be traded in for cash, and any usable material is used to build homes, toys, or ornamental items to be sold.
Pop My Way’s entire supply chain is fully GOTS-certified, so everything from energy and water use, to hazardous chemicals /use of non-chemical dyes, to the social responsibility and wages the factory workers get paid is monitored and audited regularly.
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Small Business Spotlight This is so inspiring to see, and I want the world to know that my beautiful country is about so much more than violent crime – it is also about sustainability, ingenuity and innovation. I started Pop My Way with these ideas of sustainability and innovation at the forefront of my mind. Unlike other brands who claim to be ‘sustainable’ just by using organic fabrics, Pop My Way’s entire supply chain is fully GOTS-certified, so everything from energy and water use, to hazardous chemicals /use of non-chemical dyes, to the social responsibility and wages the factory workers get paid is monitored and audited regularly. Our factory in Peru is GOTS-certified by Control Union (Licence No 866191).” Pop My Way is a culmination of my knowledge and experience in the fashion industry and my ambition to create a transparent childrenswear brand that parents can trust.
Tell us about your niche? The Pop My Way collection features mix-and-match baby essentials with interchangeable accessories that are designed to “pop” onto the garment. Attach collars, bibs or dummy/toy straps to the shoulder poppers on the bodysuits, cardigans or two-way zippered sleepsuit. Lost socks are also a thing of the past, thanks to Pop My Way’s clever ankle poppers on the trousers and socks. Being manufactured in a registered GOTS-certified factory means that everything is measurably sustainable, from the harvesting of our cotton to the rights of workers in our factories, all the way through to our packaging and even beyond with the new “Pop My Way Preloved” scheme. The collection comes in 7 delicious pastel colours and is made from certified organic Peruvian pima cotton, so it is luxurious, super soft and durable. Pima cotton is the finest cotton on the market and is hypo-allergenic, free from impurities and highly resistant to pilling. This makes it the perfect fabric for baby clothing while also ensuring garments stand the test of time so they can be passed down.
“Pop My Way Preloved” launched recently to allow customers to return their used Pop My Way clothing to us in exchange for a discount. Our hope is that more quality used clothing items will remain in circulation, and more people will be encouraged to buy preloved clothing, thus reducing the amount of garments produced and reducing textile waste in landfills. This will introduce circularity into the brand and will allow Pop My Way to be accessible to more customers.
www.popmyway.co.uk
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Parents in Business Directory Joy Foster TechPixies
Salihah Agbaje Spoken World Productions
Vee Roberts Insight2marketing
TechPixies is an award-winning CPD accredited online learning platform with a social mission to help women leverage the power of modern technology (Social Media, WordPress and MailChimp) to improve women’s access to employment or help them to start a business.
Spoken World Productions are a Theatre in Education organisation operating across London and the globe (virtually!) to bring fun, educational and enriching Drama lessons to primary aged children. Their sessions are designed to work in line with all subjects and can be tailored to the individual curriculum, so if you are a school teacher, home educator, enrichment officer or parent seeking a drama package for your child to enjoy, they can help.
Insight2marketing is a Full-Service brand & Marketing agency led by Vee Roberts, an award-winning Brand & Marketing Coach.
Podcast
Services offered
Courses
1-2-1 coaching sessions
Social Media Management and Event Services
www.techpixies.com
Online drama sessions
Services offered Free training Workshops
www.spokenworldproductions.com
Services offered Strategic Planning Campaign Design and Implementation Brand Development Web Design Leaflet Distribution
www.insight2marketing.com
You can find these businesses and more on our online directory
Michelle Molyneux MJM Virtual Solutions
Louise Worsley Worsley Training
Nadene Martin Format Services Limited
Your everyday virtual admin solution providing personal assistant support to conquer general admin tasks, so consultants and small businesses can focus on growing their business.
Worsley Training is run by Louise Worsley, a professional teacher with an instinctive ability to make learning First Aid memorable and enjoyable. She has over fifteen years of hands-on First Aid experience, both as a global expedition leader and as a parent.
Format Services is a Virtual Assistant Company taking care of all of your administration needs. Offer various services which can support you to grow your business, and you can view them further in the Services section. There are many benefits of outsourcing your administration, which you can discuss further as every business is unique.
Services offered General administration Research Proofreading and editing Virtual personal assistant www.mjmvirtualsolutions.com
Some of the courses offered Baby and Child First Aid Paediatric First Aid
Services offered
Mini Life-Savers (first aid for primary school children)
Email Management
Teen-Aiders (First aid for teenagers & secondary school children)
Project management
Basic Life Support with Defibrillator First Aid Training So many other courses are on offer so be sure to check out the website.
Transcription Venue Bookings And so much more, be sure to check out Nadene's website www.formatservices.co.uk
www.worsleytraining.co.uk
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